Summary:

My Review Of BitDefender Internet Security 2012

Having previously looked at BitDefender Antivirus Plus 2012 and BitDefender Total Security 2012 I thought it only right that I didn’t overlook the other offering from this antivirus company: BitDefender Internet Security 2012.

[box type=”note”]Key Benefits:

Excellent malware detection – viruses and other threats will be spotted before they damage your PC

Excellent malware cleanup – gets rid of the bad stuff!

Beginners will appreciate the built in ‘autopilot’ – ideal for those who aren’t too technical (more on that below)

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Will the program run on your computer?

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BitDefender Internet Security 2012 has the following system requirements:

One of the key areas I always look at with security products is their system resource usage because some antivirus and internet security programs can really bring a system to a halt.

BitDefender Internet Security is, in my opinion, a slight resource hog. In my testing it used more memory than some of the competition and CPU usage was very high for a couple of minutes at the beginning of a full scan and again near the end. For the majority of the scanning time, however, CPU usage was at a good level, as seen in the screenshot above.

I think if you use this program with a machine that is close to the minimum suggested specs then you may notice some lag whilst scans are being run but will otherwise be ok. New computer systems should have no real issues at all in running this program.

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How easy is it to install the program and does it look good?

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As regular readers already know, my eyes don’t like white text on a black background. Otherwise, I think the interface looks great and works well.

When you first load the program up you’ll be presented with the screen below which lays everything out nicely and makes it easy to select the areas you wish to utilise.

If you look to the bottom of the screen you’ll see there are eight dots. To the left of this is a slider which allows you to easily scroll through the various options that are on offer here. If you move down this page a little I’ve added another screenshot which shows the other 4 options that are accessed through the main area of the interface.

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What features does BitDefender Internet Security 2012 offer?

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BitDefender Internet Security 2012 is packed full of features. Of course all the ones you would expect to find in such a program are accessed via the slider, such as:
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The feature list doesn’t stop there though as there are many more, some of which you won’t find in other similar products –

[box type=”yellow”]BitDefender Autopilot[/box]

BitDefender Autopilot will make sensible security decisions for you. This is ideal for those who don’t wish to tinker with the huge amount of options and settings that the program has to offer. As such, this internet security program is an ideal choice for computer experts and non-experts alike.

If you are someone who isn’t too comfortable with computers then you’ll love the simplicity of this Autopilot mode – all you have to do to activate it is click on one button and then you’ll have a great level of internet security without having to understand or activate any other parts of the program.

[box type=”yellow”]BitDefender SafeGo[/box]

Another aspect, which you can see in the image below, is the inclusion of a tool which can increase your security on social networking sites Facebook and Twitter. You can find out more about this by reading my recent article about BitDefender SafeGo.

[box type=”yellow”]Scan Dispatcher[/box]

Another good feature, which negates some of what I mentioned about resource usage earlier, is Scan Dispatcher. This is an intelligent way of scheduling scans – basically what it means is that the program will schedule scans around your computer activity, i.e. it will only initiate a scan when system resource usage falls below a certain level, thereby minimising any potential impact upon system performance.

BitDefender Internet Security 2012 works exceptionally well indeed. There don’t appear to be many independent test results available at this point in time but in my own testing against a sizable list of very recent malware it performed very well indeed in both the detection of the threats and in removal too.

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How does the program compare to other BitDefender products?

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I’ve now reviewed all three home security products from BitDefender so I think it is a good time to mention how Internet Security 2012 differs from the other two –

[box type=”gray”]vs BitDefender Antivirus Plus 2012:

adds AntiSpam

adds Firewall

adds Parental Controls[/box]

[box type=”gray”]vs BitDefender Total Security 2012:

lacks File Encryption

lacks Tune-Up

lacks File Shredder

lacks 2GB Online Backup[/box]

As for which of the three solutions is best, only you can decide. All three are good and this program is an alternative which sits nicely between the other two in terms of both features and cost.

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What is my overall opinion of BitDefender Internet Security 2012?

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To my mind, BitDefender security products have two issues. One is aesthetic and personal to me (white text on black background) and the other is CPU usage on older machines that are only a little better than the stated minimum requirements.

That aside, everything else is very good indeed. If you have a computer that is a few years old or less then your experience with this program should be very good indeed. It is highly effective at detecting and dealing with malware and packs in many other useful features too. AutoPilot may concern those few people who like to roll their sleeves up and get stuck into their security program but they can turn it off. Everyone else will likely appreciate the fact that the program is making sensible security decisions for them.

Lee's non-technical background allows him to write about internet security in a clear way that is understandable to both IT professionals and people just like you who need simple answers to your security questions.

Comments

Early last year I bought BitDefender 2011 top of the line internet security suite because of all the great reviews I read about BitDefender products. Within 3 months of my purchase, BitDefender support upgraded my to the 2012 version due to irrepairable problems with the one I had purchased. The 2012 version has been nothing but problems for me to the point where it’s up for renewal and I am on here looking for alternatives. The key problems I encountered are:
1. Security setting change (even when passworded). I found myself many time surfing unprotected because BD had changed all the setting, or an update reset the settings, or BD couldn’t ommunicate with their server… or…. either way, on more than occasions, I ended up having to uninstall and reinstall BD to make it work. I won’t mention the number of system restores I have had to make in the past 12 months.
2. The program is resource heavy. In fact as I type this feedback now, I am having to stop ocasionally to allow the system to cath up. Like the system restores, the number of hard boots I have had to make because the system hanges when you try to do multiple things while conducting a scan, is countless.
3. BitDefender Support is useless. Unless you either speak to support or use the virtual support tool, support in any other form is non-existant. Email them with a problem, but don’t expect to ever get a reply. I have had situations where I have emaild support with a problem and after that, the problem has disappeared…. was it support that fixed it?… was it a miraculous cure?… who will ever know, because I did received even an acknowledgement for my complaint… as far as I know, the first complaint I posted 12 months ago is still open and is yet to be addressed.

There is a host of other issues as well, but these 3 are what have driven me to leave BitDefender for good. As far as I am concerned, BD have had 12 months and countlesss feedback to make it right by me and they failed miserably.

My understanding is that the ‘Standard’ version is the one year option and that the ‘Value’ alternative is for a two year licence which works out (relatively) cheaper when the total cost is divided by the length of protection.

As for internet speed I can tell you that is a comment I’ve heard about many different security products, though probably more so for BitDefender than others to be fair. I haven’t noticed it myself (and I do still run Internet Security 2012 on one of my PCs) and my internet connection is quite slow by modern standards. I’d be interested in knowing if there is a link between connection speed and those who’ve had this issue but, unfortunately, I don’t have enough info on that to be able to draw any conclusions.

Certainly the program itself is quite demanding as I mentioned in the review – its not one for anybody running an older PC in my opinion.

I purchased Bitdefender Internet Security as it was on offer and had good reviews. Install necessitated removal of conflicting programmes which offered no real time protection so was a little irked as it was malware megabytes a secondary line of defence I rate highly. Once installed it seemed to run with minimal impact and passed a few tests I always throw at these things. Then the problems began. Following an update and the required reboot it forgot all my settings. This happened after every update and auto pilot would frequently disengage. Even worse the detection was inconsistent – it would identify x as malware one minute the next nothing. This is worrying as although my samples were simulated malware this is not something I want to put my trust in. Great product and great protection when it works. A buggy and inconsistent line of defence meant it had to go.